opinion The North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) honored a number of people and organizations from the Fargo and West Fargo area for going above and beyond their call of duty in promoting traffic safety. Three honorees will now be recognized on the 2012 Traffic Safety Honor Roll.
Fargo, 58102

Fargo North Dakota 101 5th Street North 58102

2013-01-28 13:15:14

The North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) honored a number of people and organizations from the Fargo and West Fargo area for going above and beyond their call of duty in promoting traffic safety. Three honorees will now be recognized on the 2012 Traffic Safety Honor Roll. The NDDOT also awarded the Occupant Protection Award to the West Fargo Police Department for their exceptional traffic safety work.

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The Traffic Safety Honor Roll awards recognized individuals and organizations from the Fargo and West Fargo area including: Bobbi Paper of the Safe Kids Fargo/Moorhead - Sanford Health, Officer Shane Orn of the West Fargo Police Department and the organization - Safe Communities Coalition of the Red River Valley.

"Each person and organization honored has made safety in their communities a number one priority by going above and beyond that which is generally accepted as being part of their responsibility," said Mark Nelson, NDDOT Safety Division Director. "These awards represent the highest recognition of individuals or organizations involved in traffic safety."

Bobbi Paper is a champion for the safety and well-being of the youth in the Fargo Region and a member of the Safe Communities Coalition of the Red River Valley. She is a co-founder of "Safety Safari," which informs families of child passenger safety requirements and best practices. Paper is also the founder of the "Safety Shoppe," a full-service inspection station offering car seat safety checks, bike helmet fittings and safety supplies. She was also involved in creating the Buckle Up with Bucky program that is used statewide to teach 4- to 8-year-old children about passenger safety as well as a series of public service announcements addressing child safety issues. Paper is a Child Passenger Safety Trainer and is essential in providing safety classes to the new American Orientation in Fargo. She also plays a vital role in the "Take 5" campaign, which teaches parents to take five minutes to walk around the car before every trip and she partnered with the Fargo Police Department to sponsor a car seat recycling event resulting in over 600 car seats being recycled in one day.

Officer Shane Orn has been a law enforcement officer for over 10 years and is being honored for his work in traffic safety with the West Fargo Police Department. In this role he is consistently a top DUI enforcement officer, recording 24 DUI arrests in 2011, the most within his agency. Orn is "Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement" (ARIDE) and "Protecting Lives and Saving Futures" trained and has passed this knowledge on to newly hired officers as a "Field Training Officer." He is quick to assist other officers during their traffic stops and ranks in the top five in the department in calls for service/reports.

The Safe Communities Coalition of the Red River Valley is honored for their work in traffic safety. They were featured in the National Highway and Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) publication "Case Studies of Community-Based Self-Sufficient DWI Programs."

Several coalition members as well as the coordinator have been selected for various state and national traffic safety awards. The Coalition serves more than 200,000 people and has mentored numerous traffic safety and prevention professionals. The Coalition's core programs include: Victim Impact Panel, server training, alcohol compliance checks, Roll-over Simulator demonstrations and Buckle Up with Bucky child passenger safety presentations.

The nominees were chosen by partners of the NDDOT who submitted nominations to recognize individuals or groups for their outstanding service to the community, information technology, safety, public affairs, and consumer educational programs throughout the state of North Dakota in the area of traffic safety. The applications were reviewed by previous award recipients and individuals committed to traffic safety, as well as the NDDOT staff.

The recipients of this award will have their photos and descriptions of their contributions displayed throughout the year in the second floor lobby exhibit at the NDDOT Central Office building in Bismarck.

The NDDOT also recently awarded the Occupant Protection Award. This year's award was presented to the West Fargo Police Department (WFPD) for their contributions to the NDDOT while going above and beyond what is generally accepted as being part of their responsibility. The WFPD has consistently achieved high seat belt citations per hour during the Occupant Protection High Visibility Enforcement Campaign and is dedicated to promoting seat belt usage in local schools through School Resource Officers. The WFPD also demonstrates their dedication to occupant protection through numerous child passenger safety events and Roll-over Simulator demonstrations.